Kasperian Moving Parts

kinda like batman, but with a wife and 3 kids

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Category Archives: Life in General

Dear Lazyweb,
I need to buy a laptop for personal use. I’ve been using Thinkpads as work laptops for so long that I think I’d like to try something else out for a change. It needs to be Dual Core/Core 2 Duo/whatever. Would be nice if it had a fast 200+GB drive in it. And it [...]

I pray a lot for my kids. I always have. I ask God to protect them, shield them, guide them, and watch over them when I cannot. Watching your oldest child reach 18 years of age, start college, start driving, and be out of your line of sight and protection for large parts of the [...]

<kergoth> anyone messed with protobuf?
<vanRijn> kergoth: i once had a hamster i named protobuf, does that help?
<kergoth> fraid not
<vanRijn> actually, it was a guinea pig
<vanRijn> and it was named Squeaker
<vanRijn> but still
<darth_mall> vanRijn: that’s practically the same thing!
<kergoth> hehe
<vanRijn> darth_mall: I KNOW RIGHT!
I think I’m getting too in touch with my emotions as of late. [...]

I hate leaving things on my mental To-Do list, no matter how trivial or stupid they are. But I’ve had it on my mental to do list for like 4 years now to move all of the images I had in /bimages/ and /images/ on my web server to flickr and update the content in [...]

I’m out in California this week (belated warning) again, WOOT! I got to spend another awesome weekend at the Google Summer of Code Mentor Summit. This year, Leo and I were the official KDE representatives, but Thiago, Simon, Ariya, and Olivier got to join in on the fun too. And then today and tomorrow are [...]

So, about the biggest complaint that I have with the N810 thus far is that it doesn’t have good, syncable-with-my-Linux/KDE-desktop PIM apps. At least, none that I’ve seen yet. And yes, it would be super neato if I could run KDE PIM apps (korganizer, kaddressbook, etc.) on the N810, but that still doesn’t address the [...]

After reading about a whole lot of problems people have been having with SanDisk micro->mini SDHC card adapters on the N810, I bought this awesome little Kingston 8GB Micro SDHC Mobility Multi Kit Model MBLY/8GB over the weekend for only $30(!!) and just got it in the mail today. After figuring out how to actually [...]

I know… I’m behind the times. But still, I just got these 2 new woot shirts in the mail today and I’m so happy with them! =:)

@chipx86 Oh Christian, I am SO sorry. =:( *HUG* #
Can a 15+-year vi user learn emacs? #

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My darling bride just informed me that I’m pouting because I didn’t get to go to Akademy this year. Darnit, but she’s right. =:( #

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“Your robotic smart house could strike at any moment.” Love this book so far! #
Very bummed I’m missing out on Akademy again. =:( I totally need to start the passport process!! #
Need to buy rope and accessories for a monster between-two-trees swing in the back yard this weekend. But for now, KPilot/SOC hacking… #
I SO [...]

Blef. Fridays are supposed to feel better than this, I thought. #

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Awesome, rainy day in New England. Lost power once already, briefly, and UPS’s kept me up and working, yay! #
I really need to spend a weekend and hack an Xbox into being my file/print/ssh server, dangit. Anyone hacked a parallel port onto an Xbox? #

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Working from Cambridge office today! Lunch with Google and VMware peoples, woot!! #

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Ugh. Dealing with college tuition and bills is almost as fun as dealing with lawyers, hospitals, and insurance. =:( #
I cannot brain today. Also, my neck hurts and I have a headache. Blef. #

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Bertjan has already done a very nice job of giving an overview of where we are with this year’s GSOC project and where KPilot is in general. I wanted to add a couple of things to this train of thought too…
First off, this is the second year that I’ve worked with Bertjan on a Google [...]

Meh. If I were king, I’d require Mondays to be a non-work buffer zone between a too-short weekend and a too-abrupt coming back to work. #
Homemade iced decaf white chocolate mocha latte, ala Starbucks (with the Fontana/Starbucks white chocolate mocha sauce) FTW!!! #

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We had a nasty little electrical storm in our neck of the woods (literally) a couple of nights ago. Power went off for a few hours and all that normal-type nuisance stuff. However, what I did not expect was the damage that happened as a result of a monstrous power surge that ripped through our [...]

Warning. Random brain dump coming…
Food for thought that I spotted on my lifehacker feed today… Why You’re Better Off Avoiding the iPhone
… this is a hypocrite’s confession. I purchased and use an iPhone, but I hate being locked into Apple’s proprietary system.
Original impetus was 5 reasons to avoid iPhone 3G [Free Software Foundation]. Hm. [...]

Meaning no disrespect to whomever graphicked the original awesome logo, but I am totally jealous of all who can fly the original banner. Maybe next year? I needs to gets me a Visa or something first, tho. Durnit. Have fun guys!!

Stupid Apple people. “iPhone 3G is coming July 11. Watch the guided tour.” Yay! *click* *click* “Get the Latest QuickTime.” Um. WTF? Do you make that for Linux now?? FAIL!! Is this ignorance, intentional, or just plain, stupid, stinking downright arrogance on Apple’s part? Hm. How about all 3? It’s darned insulting.
The worst of it [...]

I got asked, via e-mail, today how I went from a retail pharmacy store manager to systems architect and it was such a good brain dumping that I figured I’d blog it too. =:) Here, then, is a brief overview of how I got from .A->.B.

met the woman I knew I wanted to marry at [...]

I know it’s stealing Firefox3’s thunder, but Opera 9.5 was just released and it is REALLY well done. I have always been amazed at how blazing fast it is and this release continues in that vein.
However…

Is it just me or does the Gmail “move to trash” / “delete” shortcut (shift+3 or “#”) TOTALLY not stinking [...]

I don’t think I truly know what the words “vacation” or “relax” mean. Seriously. We’re visiting friends right now and I’ve taken the week off, conceivably to “relax”, or have a vacation. But I don’t know if I’d be able to relax if my life depended on it. When I’ve not been running around town [...]

I switched from SUSE 10.3 to Kubuntu 8.04 (Hardy) just this evening. It’s always good to get a feel for how the various distros are doing. Anyway, it took me a bit of digging to figure out how to get the artwiz fonts (smoothansi, in particular) to work as my konsole font. Thanks to this [...]